are more of BP's well deep water wells?
Yes, a significant portion of BP's oil and gas production — particularly its high-value, advantaged upstream assets — comes from deepwater wells, especially in the US Gulf of America (often called the Gulf of Mexico or "Gulf of America" in recent BP materials).
Key Points on BP's Deepwater Focus - BP is one of the leading deepwater producers globally, with a strong emphasis on the US Gulf of America, where it operates multiple major platforms and hubs (e.g., Atlantis, Mad Dog, Argos, Thunder Horse, Na Kika).
- Recent expansions and startups in 2025 include deepwater projects like:
- Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion (started up in late 2025, ahead of schedule).
- Argos Southwest Extension.
- Ongoing developments like Atlantis Major Facility Expansion (expected 2027).
- New sanctioned greenfield projects: Kaskida (first oil ~2029) and Tiber-Guadalupe (first oil ~2030), both using advanced high-pressure (20,000 psi) technology for ultra-deepwater/Paleogene reservoirs.
- BP aims to grow its US Gulf production capacity to over 400,000 boe/d by 2030, largely driven by these deepwater assets. This includes plans for hubs producing from multiple subsea wells tied back to floating production platforms.
- Globally, BP's upstream portfolio includes other deepwater/ultra-deepwater areas (e.g., Greater Tortue Ahmeyim off Mauritania/Senegal, Brazil discoveries like Bumerangue, and elements in Angola/Brazil).
Proportion and Context - While exact current percentages of total group production aren't always broken out precisely (BP reports upstream as a whole, often ~2+ million boe/d total), deepwater (especially US Gulf) represents a core, high-margin part of BP's oil & gas business.
- BP highlights the Gulf as one of its "advantaged" regions for growth, contrasting with more mature onshore or shallow-water assets. For instance, US onshore (via bpx in Permian/Eagle Ford/etc.) is also growing toward ~1 million boe/d by 2030, but deepwater projects provide long-life, high-productivity wells.
- Historically (e.g., post-Deepwater Horizon era), BP has maintained a strong deepwater presence, with many of its flagship fields (like Atlantis in >7,000 ft water depth) relying on deepwater wells.
In short, deepwater wells are not the majority of every single well BP drills (given diverse global ops including North Sea, Azerbaijan, Trinidad, onshore US, etc.), but they are disproportionately important to BP's production growth, value, and future strategy — especially amid the company's upstream reset to grow oil/gas output through 2030. This aligns with why BP paused buybacks recently: to preserve cash for these capital-intensive deepwater investments amid softer oil prices. |
